In the past tires have been repaired by applying a patch over the damaged part of the tire at the inner surface of the tire. The hole or other break in the tire was filled with a plug of gum rubber. The type of patch used was a laminated build-up of cord plies which, when vulcanized to the tire, was relatively stiff and did not flex or move with the tire so that during operation of the tire there was edge cracking and breaking loose of the patch from the tire.
In an effort to overcome this problem tire patches have been made of different constructions including patches having overlapping parallel spaced cord plies, plies of different numbers of cords and kinds of textile material, rubber strips to cover the ends of the cords and plies of cords at different angles so that there would be less resistance to flexing and movement of the patch relative to the tire surface during operation. These proposed solutions have not been completely satisfactory because it has been difficult to make some of these patches without air spaces between the plies. The air spaces are very objectionable because the air expands as the tire temperature increases and can cause premature failure of the patch and tire. In other cases the patches have not provided the desired flexibility to prevent edge cracking and breaking loose of the patch from the tire.